As most of you know by now, our own Markos Moulitsas has a new book out: Taking On the System: Rules for Radical Change in a Digital Era. Markos is really proud of this book, and he has good reason to be. Until now, there has been a lot of talk and bluster about what people can do to change our country and our poltiical, business and creative culture, but there hasn't really been a good how-to manual for getting it done. Everyone wants to change the world, but few people really know where to begin.
Taking on the System fills in that gap, providing a wealth of specific dos and don'ts illustrated by object lessons that will be familiar to many in the progressive blogosphere. It's a must-read for activists and entrepreneurs of all stripes. If you don't have a copy yet, get one. Read the book and absorb its lessons.
For those of you who haven't had the opportunity to hear Markos talk about this book in person, her will be appearing today on my and clammyc's BlogTalkRadio show today at 4pmPST/7pmEST. The interview will be streamed live: click here to listen. The show will be available for download/podcast at the same link approximately an hour after it wraps up. The book raises some profound questions for the future of political activism and messaging, and we'll be addressing some of those questions in the interview.
In a certain sense, one cannot talk about this book without the context of Markos' and Jerome's first book and progressive bible Crashing the Gate. While Taking on the System can certainly be read and utilized on its own, it is best viewed as an indispensable companion piece to Crashing the Gate. CTG was the first book to aggressively lay out the central problems facing Democrats and progressive activists, and explore the parameters of the democratizing "gate-crashing" revolution taking place in the new media order. In battlefield terminology, CTG described the changing lay of the land, the ground forces involved, the strategic errors of past generals, and the new strategies that would be necessary to claim victory. But what it did not do was describe the specific tactics to use and formations to line up in to get to the promised land.
Taking on the System does just that. True to form for a movement that is pragmatic at heart, the new book takes the strategic groundwork laid out in CTG and provides everyone--from footsoldiers to generals--with a very specific set of instructions for how to get effective results, drawing on both positive and negative object lessons. True to its intended mission as a gate-crashing manual, it is written in simple, easily accessible prose.
And it's not just progressive activists who stand to gain from absorbing the book's lessons: many of the examples Markos cites are drawn from the from the world of business, music and other areas. Whether you're a budding artist, entrepreneur or organizer, you can learn a whole lot from this book. In fact, the people who could probably learn the most from reading the book are conservative activists trying to reform their own party, who would do well to learn some lessons from the success stories (and failures) of many of our friends in the progressive community and beyond.
If you haven't read the book yet--or if you have and simply want to learn more from the author about some of the questions and issues it raises--go ahead and tune in to our show today at 4pmPST/7pmPST. And then get back to work taking on the system!